Oregon Defends Assisted Suicide Law

Published 6:00 pm, Tuesday, November 5, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Oregon's attorney general defended the nation's only law allowing doctors to prescribe lethal medication to the dying in a brief filed Wednesday with a federal appeals court.

The Justice Department in September asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hold Oregon doctors criminally liable if they assist in a patient's suicide, which would effectively negate the law.

The government argued that Attorney General John Ashcroft had concluded that "suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose."

Oregon's brief argues that Congress has not given Ascroft the authority to decide what constitutes a legitimate medical purpose, and that he would be exceeding his power under the Constitution.

The brief also argues that the government is wrongly trying to apply the Controlled Substances Act, which is mainly meant to combat illegal drug use or trafficking.

"In Oregon, there's no trafficking or diversion going on _ the attorney general simply disagrees with the policy of the state," said Eli Stutsman, an attorney for a doctor and pharmacist who are among the plaintiffs.

If Ashcroft does prevail, Oregon's law would be gutted, said Kevin Neely, spokesman for Attorney General Hardy Myers. "It wouldn't overturn our law, it would just effectively negate the ability to act within the scope of the law," he said.

The government's September filing was an appeal of an April ruling by a federal judge who sided with Oregon.

The Oregon law, passed in 1994, allows patients with less than six months to live to request a lethal dose of medication after two doctors confirm the diagnosis and deem the patient mentally competent.